Crimson Truth (Onyx Assassins 4)

But her eyes, they were…sad. So, so sad as she walked toward Hawke. He fell to his knees before her, his head bowed, whispering words I couldn’t quite make out. I looked to Benedict to see if he might elaborate, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from his princess or from the Assassin who kneeled before her.

The silent bubble burst a blink later, and Alek was racing to his sister and wrapping her in his arms. “You’re okay,” he said, loud enough for all of us to hear. “Avi, you’re okay.”

She blinked a few times, her head just visible to me in her brother’s embrace.

Something sick slid into my stomach.

She was so not okay.

Two hours.

It had been two hours since we’d returned to the residence with Avi in tow, and managed to convince the assassins to leave her with us. Us being me, Valor, and Olivia, who had returned home with Ransom last night.

And Avi hadn’t spoken a single word.

Not. One. Word.

Valor and I exchanged silent looks of concern as we sat in the chairs opposite Avi’s bed, Olivia electing to sit on the bed next to Avi. Olivia had managed to coax her into changing out of the elaborate dress into a pair of fur-lined leggings and a soft-as-silk blue sweater that hung to her knees. She’d kept the gloves on, but she always had worn gloves. I’d always loved that about her. How she took charge of her life and wouldn’t allow herself to be mated unless she was ready, unless she chose it. And as the vampire princess, males were constantly trying to touch her bare skin in hopes of their mark appearing to claim her.

My own mark practically burned beneath the long-sleeved shirt I wore, and I wanted to tell my friends, to show them Benedict’s ink on my skin. But I couldn’t, not now. Not with Avi looking so damn sad and her being so damn quiet we couldn’t even fathom how to help her.

I’d discreetly cast a spell an hour ago, wondering if she’d been glamoured into not speaking, but everything was clear on her. Whatever memories held her tongue, they were her own, not magical.

“Are you hungry?” Olivia asked, not for the first time, as she smoothed her hand up and down Avi’s back. I noted Avi’s body language, happy that she didn’t flinch at the innocent touch from her best friend. That gave me some relief that she hadn’t been tortured in her time held captive, but her silence still felt like a stone sitting in the pit of my stomach.

Avi shook her head, blinking down at the covers on her bed.

She wasn’t here. She was somewhere else very, very far away.

And she’d chosen to stay with her captors, as a spy for her people. But whatever had happened to her in these last days obviously had struck her in a way she hadn’t expected. She had spoken fine to her brother on the phone all this time, so whatever was keeping her quiet had to be an awful I couldn’t and didn’t want to think of.

“Can I get you anything?” I offered, trying again. I snapped my fingers, showing her the purple energy crackling there. “I can conjure just about anything. What about those chocolate pastries you love so much?”

A soft, almost imperceptible smile ghosted across her lips, but it was gone in a blink as she shook her head.

My heart ached, a tightening in my chest I hated. I needed action. I needed a target to unleash my anger on. Whatever they’d done to her to cause this…to cause the normally positive, happy Avianna to turn so inward and weak…Goddess I wanted to return the pain to them tenfold.

I steadied my breathing, knowing she didn’t need a slip in my power busting out things in her room right now. Before, she might’ve laughed whenever I slipped, but now? There was no telling how she would react now, especially if she’d been in a danger she never told us about with her time as spy.

I looked to each of the girls, these friends I never knew I’d have, and we were connected in our love and concern for our friend. We were connected in a way that made covens look like silly little cliques. There was a bond here I couldn’t explain, one not unlike the mating bond, but different. A strength between females who didn’t need words to solidify them together. Avi didn’t need to speak for us to know she was in pain, and we didn’t need to keep pushing her either. We just had to be here.

And I realized, even as the threat of being banished from my homeland hovered over my head, I wanted to be here. Not just for Avi, but for all of them. For Valor and Olivia and Lyric. For the Assassins. For my mate.